Terashima (Terajima) and Terawaki Cat's Eyes Production

[Sigmania]

It looks like based on the report of one former employee, Norihiro Yoshida, and on serial numbering systems that Cat's Eyes acoustics were produced in two locations with different production methods.

Exhibit 1:

"Raw guitars produced at the headquarters factory in Terawaki were mainly mass-produced products. We produced CE150-CE300 mass-produced products and CE400-CE600 semi-manufactured products.

Luxury handicrafts with a CE rating of 800 or higher were made at the "Terashima Factory" on the south side of Hamamatsu Station."

Norihiro Yoshida's Blog, Tokai Employee 1979-1984

 

[Sigmania]

Possible breakdown (subject to revision...)

Terashima:

Cat’s Eyes Serial Numbers Ending in Year Made 1975-1981 (Terashima Factory)

https://www.tokaiforum.com/threads/r-yamauchi-signed-label-cats-eyes.27918/

Terawaki:

Cat’s Eyes Model Based Serial Numbers (Terawaki Factory)

Cat's Eyes "Inspected By" Label

 

[Homer J. Simpson]

I see, the task is now to put serial number schemes and model numbers (and retail prices) into correlation.

 

[Sigmania]

This division also explains the "inspected by" labels we see on these lower priced models that do not appear on more expensive models.

Cat's Eyes "Inspected By" Label

 

[Sigmania]

Norihiro Yoshida's Blog, Tokai Employee 1979-1984

Terawaki:

"This is the head office of Tokai Musical Instruments located at 36 Terawaki-cho, Hamamatsu City. Unfortunately it doesn't exist anymore.

The long prefabricated building between the larger buildings was where the dining room and "service center" were located. On the right side, there was a raw material storage area and a natural drying area ."



Terashima:

"...high-end handicrafts were produced at the Terashima Factory."
"on the south side of Hamamatsu Station."

 

[Sigmania]

Norihiro Yoshida's Blog, Tokai Employee 1979-1984


In particular, the head office of Tokai Musical Instruments was located in the "Terawaki Tekko Danchi" (inside the rice field)...

This is the head office of Tokai Musical Instruments located at 36 Terawaki-cho, Hamamatsu City. Unfortunately it doesn't exist anymore. The long prefabricated building between the larger buildings was where the dining room and "service center" were located. On the right side, there was a raw material storage area and a natural drying area .

In this factory, guitars, pianicas, pianos, etc. were made. Guitars were mainly mass-produced, and high-end handicrafts were produced at the Terashima Factory. In the image, you can see a row of guitars from "Cat's Eye", but since I joined the company, "Tokai" brand electric guitars have become the main product.

This is the banjo production line. Even so, banjos were produced in extremely small quantities, so they were produced in a small space with only a few people. The person in the back is Mr. Nozawa, who was introduced in the banjo catalog.

Raw guitars produced at the headquarters factory in Terawaki were mainly mass-produced products. We produced CE150-CE300 mass-produced products and CE400-CE600 semi-manufactured products. Luxury handicrafts with a CE rating of 800 or higher were made at the "Terashima Factory" on the south side of Hamamatsu Station.

This is the "Terashima Factory". Wasn't there a big power machine here? So it was a very relaxing atmosphere.

It was a factory like this, but when you think of a factory where guitars are made , it's easy to have an image of specialized, veteran craftsmen who carefully work one by one. But... (like the image above?)
Actually, there are a lot of "babies around there" everywhere, and they're working hard because they're pressed for time. I felt like saying. It was never a special factory. It was just a very ordinary production factory, and what they were making was "musical instruments."

 

[Sigmania]

Terawaki Factory Layout

I pieced this layout together based on the text above by Mr. Yoshida. Probably not entirely accurate.

 

[Sigmania]

The Terashima factory was said by Mr. Yoshida to be on the south side of Hamatsu Station.

Hamamatsu Station - Wikipedia

 

[Homer J. Simpson]

I marked a few places in the Norihiro Yoshida thread:

https://www.tokaiforum.com/threads/...g-tokai-employee-1979-1984.27623/#post-208008

 

[Sigmania]

I saw those. Very helpful.

I assume the Terashima location is long gone as well.

 

[Sigmania]

And that location for the Terashima facility (south of Hamamatsu Station) is so close to the ocean.

Must have been a trick to dry wood and then to export it from there and not have issues.

 

[Homer J. Simpson]

Yeah I wanted to add an edited version of that map right away but MacOS Preview froze so badly while editing the image that I had to reboot grrr.



Not sure about the location of the main factory since it seems pretty far away from the dormitory but that's roughly the area of Terawaki-cho addresses starting with 36, Minami ward (where Terawaki-cho is located) basically ends where the highway is to the south of it so it must have been somewhere in that area (I guess).

Air-drying is to lose the free water first, after some time (depending on the wood) the moisture content would decrease to the max. saturation level (IOW what the cells and fibers can hold) of ~30% you'd get in 100% relative humidity. Max. RH in that region is around 77% which would dry the wood to an equilibrium MC of ~14% in the worst case. Not an expert but letting dry the wood more than that (by relocating it to some extra-dry place) may not make sense when the MC after kiln-drying is supposed to be something between 6 and 12%.

 

[Sigmania]

Interesting. So Terawaki is even closer to the ocean than Terashima/Hamatsu Station.

And I am no expert on wood and humidity, but it is my recollection that one of the big advantages of using laminates in Japan is that they don't split as easily as solid/1 ply backs & sides would.

 

[Sigmania]

And I’m getting the sense that the Terashima location was much more autonomous.

No “inspected by” labels.

No loud noise.

At least one builder signing his creations:

https://www.tokaiforum.com/threads/r-yamauchi-signed-label-cats-eyes.27918/

 

[Sigmania]

Now I’m wondering if this pic from 2012 is from the old headquarters in Terawaki?

宮地楽器 神田店

 

[Homer J. Simpson]

And I am no expert on wood and humidity, but it is my recollection that one of the big advantages of using laminates in Japan is that they don't split as easily as solid/1 ply backs & sides would.

There is that story about Shiro Arai touring the US in the late 50s (?) IIRC, showing around Japanese guitars and learning that they were not prepared to withstand US heating and AC with their massive impact on humidity. This (allegedly) changed the way Japanese manufacturers prepared their wood.

I know next to nothing about acoustic guitars and how production methods changed exactly but I do know that Japanese electrics are better prepared for these effects than certain guitars made in pretty much identical climatic conditions e.g on the US West Coast or some models made in the South <cough>.

I have half of an article/post about wood shrinkage,"fret sprout" and the underlying moisture content management in my poison cabinet which is basically just a rant about how most Japanese factories get that right or even do some extra work to avoid such problems "systemically", while even really expensive western world products don't and everyone acts like this is an inevitable fact of life or Guitar Center's fault and a lovable human touch.

Now I’m wondering if this pic from 2012 is from the old headquarters in Terawaki?

The sign is from the old Terawaki factory, but it is now greeting people at the dormitory factory:

 

[Sigmania]

1980 Cat's Eyes Catalog

Terashima or Terawaki?

1980s - 1980 Cat's Eyes Acoustic Catalog Vol. 3

These two guys look like they may possibly be Martin employees??

Martin repair shop said to be in one corner of the Tokai factory. Which factory in 1980?




Marlboro guy looks like he may be doing Martin repair work?



Neck re-sets?

 

[Sigmania]

I was just looking for early Tokai classical guitars and came across a web site with a very interesting map showing locations of classical guitar builders in Japan.

Fretwork: A Look at Vintage Japanese Classical Guitars

 

[Homer J. Simpson]

Seen that map before and wasn't exactly impressed.

The confusing historic map, there seems to be some cringey confusion or lumping together of Nagoya city and Nagano prefecture (Kasuga = Nagoya, Moridaira (Morris) = Matsumoto, Nagano, Suzuki = Hamamatsu and somewhere in the Kiso valley, Nagano), Takamine is in Gifu prefecture but not in Sakushita (OK it was probably founded there), Kiso Fukushima is a place in the Kiso valley (= Nagano) and not where the line goes, most of the pointers are not pointing even close to the actual positions and Hohner is a German distributor, not a luthier or guitar factory... I think it's pretty awful but these are all companies I have no particular knowledge about. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

[Sigmania]

The only thing I was really focused on was Yamaha and Kawai being in Hamamatsu. Is that correct?

To me, that was interesting because it would imply that there was a concentration of skilled workers used to building acoustics.